Early Graduation

Hadrian had just finished off his practical exams, he sniggered as he remembered the shocked looks his teachers had in reaction to his wandless magic.

He had done some of the spells that they had taught him the previous year wandlessly, the transfiguration exam was the most taxing to do without a wand but Hadrian managed. Professor Andy's reactions to his wandless magic during the Duelling exam made Hadrian laugh, the man's jaw unhinged itself from his face!

Hadrian had planned on showing them because there were no downsides to it, even if someone knew he could use wandless magic - it didn't mean they would be able to handle him any easier. His real trump card was the spells in Merlin's Grimoire, which he was very close to unlocking, according to Merlin.

Who knew what kind of spells lay waiting for Hadrian to use?

Well...Merlin did. He refused to tell Hadrian what was inside his Grimoire, much to Hadrian's annoyance.

Hadrian knew that there were spells in all kinds of reptilian magical languages, he knew that spells were stronger in some magical languages than others. For example, spells spoken in Parseltongue were stronger than spells spoken in Latin. By that logic, Hadrian figured that spells in Dragonic were stronger than spells spoken in Parseltongue. After all, Dragons are thought to be the king of reptiles.

There was also the Potter Rune Battle Magic and the Black Family Magic that he was yet to learn.

There was no harm done in revealing his wandless capabilities, if the students of Uagadou could brazenly use magic without a wand, then Hadrian figured he could too.

Hadrian ended up getting O+ in all is practicals as well.

Now he wasn't a student of Aunriton Academy Of The Arcane, he was a graduate! There was a lot of prestige in graduating early from any school, especially from a magical prep school.

All Hadrian had left to do was break the news to his friends.

He found them sitting on a bench counting the eggs they had collected from the hunt.

Daphne was the first that noticed Hadrian walking towards them, so she shouted his name in surprise.

"Hadrian! Where were you?", she asked.

"That's what I came here to tell you guys about...", he replied.

"Go on then, tell us.", said Oliver.

"I'm...no longer a student at Aunriton's beca-"

"What?!", Daphne exclaimed.

"Did you get kicked out?", asked Crow.

Many more questions were hurled at Hadrian, who quickly became overwhelmed. While they were shouting, Hadrian noticed that Oliver had a conflicted face - as if he didn't know if he should be happy or sad about his friend's departure.

"Stop!", Hadrian shouted back.

Once they were quiet he began speaking again, "I'm no longer a student because I've graduated, I finished the last of my exams today."

"...How? You're not even a third-year yet.", said Roan.

"You guys know I've been doing advanced work right?...", Hadrian waited for their nods and started speaking soon after, "Well...the work I was doing was one year ahead - meaning that I was learning second-year material, last year and third-year material this year. This meant that I could graduate early."

"Does this mean we won't see you for the rest of the year...or next year?", asked Daphne.

"Nope, Professor Andy is going to make me his official Apprentice. The difference is that I will be allowed to participate in Duelling Tournaments that he signs me up for as well as extra training. I'll be back for the next year too!"

"...So lucky, you don't have to do homework anymore.", said Theo, pouting.

"I can still help you if you want.", Hadrian offered, to which Theo shook his head in adamant refusal, he didn't want to study as hard as Hadrian was seen studying - he'd much rather read his comic books.

"What were your results?", Crow asked, curiously.

"I got Outstanding plus on all of my exams.", Hadrian replied nonchalantly.

Crow shook his head in disbelief while everyone else's mouths dropped.

"...I'm happy you don't have to leave...Rian.", said Daphne.

"So am I, Daph. I can't leave you here, you still haven't beaten me in a duel, like you said you would."

"Not.Yet.", she replied cheekily.

"Not.Ever.", Hadrian retorted.

Daphne responded by slapping Hadrian on his arm,"...Meanie.", she said as she looked away and pouted.

Weeks passed before Hadrian noticed something weird. His hair hadn't grown at all. He hadn't gotten a haircut in months, yet his hair hadn't grown an inch. He found it very weird...

Hadrian had more important things to worry about though, the most important being the U12 Duelling Tournament that was coming soon.

He had trained extremely hard, now that he didn't need to attend lessons, he could pour all his time into Duelling.

Hadrian's absence in classes had lead many to wonder where he was but it was soon revealed when a student had asked Professor Goldhorn. When the student found out about Hadrian's early graduation, it was spread around the school very quickly.

Hadrian didn't care, he knew they would find out, it was just a matter of when.

He had learned some new spells during his 'absence', one of them being the shield spell and the blindfolding spell, 'Obscuro'.

It was imperative he knew this spell because it would give him time to either break free from a spell or slow down his opponent enough that they show an opening that he could capitalize on.

There were other ways Hadrian could subdue his opponents but it was rather brutish and he knew that the audience wouldn't want to see any 'muggle-brawling'.

He had started spar duelling with Professor Anderson he couldn't hold a candle towards a former Duelling Champion - but he was getting stronger and more refined with each duel.

He was also recently taught how to chain cast. Chain casting is when you start a spell a motion that follows the previous spell, this allows you to seamlessly transition between spells used. The purpose of the chain depends on what the caster intends to do.

Most chains consist of disarming charms, knockback jinxes, and the full-body bind curse.

Chains are dependant on the speed of the caster and the timing the spells are done too, Hadrian wasn't a master duellist, but he was getting the hang of chain casting very quickly.

He had to do many drills to get his casting speed to a high enough level so that Professor Andy would feel that he was ready.

What Hadrian didn't know was that he was already at the casting speed of the U12s, with the few weeks of training he had left, he would probably be faster than them!

Hadrian didn't know, so he worked tirelessly.

The weeks leading up to the duel were extremely tough for Hadrian. He rarely got to see his friends but he knew that he would see them soon enough. He had a big task on his hands - participating in an international Duelling Tournament was a big deal.

It was an even bigger deal when you find out that a 9-year-old would be duelling 11-year-olds. If said 9 year old were to win? He would probably be heralded as a prodigy. It would create a major stir in the Wizarding Community.

Not to mention, the Tournament was considerably dangerous - dark curses were not allowed, neither were the unforgivables but if someone were to use the severing charm and hit your arm, it would be perfectly legal.

The only reason this was allowed was because there were ways to regrow and reattach bones, skin, and muscles. The only exception to this would be dark curses - it ranges from incredibly hard to impossible to fix when a person is hit by a dark curse and ends up losing a body part.

When Dorea heard about this through the two-way mirror, she was adamant about not letting Hadrian go - but ultimately had no choice as Hadrian kept pleading with her until she relented. Charlus didn't mind, so Hadrian was free to go!

Hadrian was determined to show off his wandless magic, he wanted to see how he matched up against a student from Uagadou.

His main goal for this tournament was to garner experience and reputation. It would make things much easier in the future.

Hadrian didn't have a main strategy but he did have multiple strengths he could play to - one of them being his wandless magic.

Both physical speed and casting speed. Hadrian was fit enough and fast enough to dodge spells, he'd hoped that it would be enough to throw them off - if that didn't work, there was always the wandless spells and the specialized duelling spells that Professor Andy taught him.

Although, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous.

While nervous, he was also excited - he couldn't wait to see the different duelling styles that the foreign schools would be bringing to the tournament.